Or perhaps one should consider 'rehabilitate' in its alternate meaning of 'reexamine.' It is a good bet that any person, object or feeling shunned by society has something important to say about it. Yet their voices are discredited. The theatre in this century has often been a place to express those sentiments considered unsafe or untasteful in society; so long as those sentiments remained in the theatre. Thieves Theatre has sought to expand the reach of theatre. When performing inside a theatre, the scandal has reached beyond the walls. The identity they have sought to take one, the voice they have chosen to speak through, has not been that of the revolutionary, but that of the unconsciously dissident. The outlaw is a person who for one reason or another has been unable to participate within the rules of society. Were it merely inside the theatre, the voice of the outlaw could be regarded as aberration of interest. But when the theatre of the outlaw goes beyond the walls, the voice of the outlaw interferes and disrupts the calm of what is assumed to be true and right (correct).

It is quite possible that those who took part in The Making of Thieves Theatre's Last Stand left with the understanding that the relationship between "us" and "them" is irresolvable. If this is the case, then in the end there may only be battle. If there is a resolution, it will most likely stem from a serious revaluation and change of "us" by our society. Thieves Theatre does not seek to provide these answers. It seeks to give the outlaw a voice.

"If we are with Genet in trying to 'rehabilitate the ignoble,'
we know that thief to poet, id to art, is a never-ending cycle;
when heaven becomes habit, it is time to harrow hell again.
The image is the serpent eating its own tail.""
-- Nick Fracaro